December 15, 2025

Good morning!

It’s Monday, and look who has returned for another winter patrol! It’s our handsome and hard-working field inspector Ralph.

This was him after finishing his routine patrol of the rock pile inhabited by a very large family of garden-raiding voles. He’s always issuing citations that the voles ignore, prompting him to return and take at least one truant into custody.

I don’t think he was successful today. When I spotted him, he was shaking his head and trotting towards the woods, presumably to file a report with headquarters.

But Ralph is nothing but diligent. I know he’ll be back.

“Be like the fox
who makes more tracks than necessary,
some in the wrong direction.
Practice resurrection.”

—Wendell Berry

Onwards,

Clara